Mackenzie+Magee's+Portfolio


 * Reflective Portfolio**

I entered this course with some basic assumptions about the importance of language development for students. In college I took several psychology courses that emphasized how important it is for parents to read to their children at an early age; this, in fact, seemed to be the only action a parent could take that would indisputably result in positive benefits for a child. Though I am not a parent, the importance of reading weighed heavily on me as I began a career as a teacher. Currently, I teach high school English to incarcerated students. Though I have the opportunity to work with students fairly late in their development, this course and my experiences as a first-year teacher have shaped how much I emphasize literacy as an essential tool for developing life-long learners. Though I cannot change my students’ past literacy experiences, I can expose them to texts that are at their reading-level, and are engaging enough to hopefully encourage students to read independently. While this course reinforced my assumption about the importance of written literacy, it also made me aware of how language is acquired. Through class discussions and course readings, I learned how important oral development is for a student’s literacy. Exposure to oral language at a young age allows children to build a foundation for literacy development. The role of the school, then, is to build off of this foundation by exposing students to written language, and guiding them in their own writing. In this course, we discussed different philosophies on language development, focusing specifically on grammar. Many of the studies we read persuaded me that grammar is best taught through exposure to great writing, rather than explicit grammar instruction. I’ve found that when students are inspired by a great text, they are more likely to learn from it because it connects to them on a personal level. Great writing also provides opportunities for students to learn through emulation, which encourages creativity and experimentation in writing. Applying this knowledge to my classroom can be tricky. Many of my students come from impoverished backgrounds, with little to no parental support. That means that many of them missed out on building a foundation for literacy development, and, as a result, do not have a strong love of learning. One solution to this problem was apparent to me after reading an article that proposed a new technique for teaching language to babies: educating the parents about the importance of language exposure for their children. Though I cannot go back in time and do this for my students’ parents, I can still collaborate with the parents I am in contact with in order to reinforce their students’ independent reading. In the classroom, my goal for most of my students is to develop their foundational literacy skills while also providing them more complex literary tools in order to access high-interest texts. When my students are able to read and comprehend a text they enjoy, I believe they will be more successful with learning in general. Giving them the tools they need to understand the nuance and complexity of texts will also help them connect with language on a deeper level. My hope is that my students will leave my classroom understanding that language is not just a form of communication, but also an empowering way to express oneself.
 * 2. How Does Students' Language Development Affect Their Learning?**